Holley's 2013 Engine Swap Challenge

Exactly one year ago, in Engine Swaps Winter 2013, we predicted that after an unorthodox victory pulled off by Justin Dermody and Shane Sherman, Holley would seriously revamp the Engine Swap Challenge. Why? Because Justin and Shane won in a record-breaking fashion that, while adhering to the letter of the competition's rules, seriously tested their limits.

In case you missed our coverage of last year's Challenge, Justin and Shane employed a plethora of innovative, timesaving tricks that allowed them to swap engines in their Trans Am in a scant 31.57 minutes. The most nefarious trick was the custom engine perches welded to the F-car's front subframe that positioned the engine and transmission at nearly 45 degrees, allowing them to easily slip the old engine out and slide the new one in place. The severe driveline angle limited them to idling the newly swapped car around Beech Bend Raceway's facility, and that's about it. Like we said, they conformed to the rules but just barely.

To change things up and place more emphasis on the mechanical aspects of the swap itself, Holley provided the two cars for this year's Engine Swap Challenge, rather than allowing the teams to bring cars they'd had an opportunity to prep ahead of time: a pair of secondgeneration Camaros, purchased from Florida and nearly identical in spec, both with a small-block Chevy and TH350 transmission. Holley engineers inspected each car, pre-wired Holley's HP EFI system and upgraded the fuel system to deliver the necessary fuel pressure. Up for grabs was a 6.0L crate engine. All you had to do was beat the other team swapping it into the Camaro. No pressure, right?

2/23

This year's competitors were chosen by Holley from applications submitted to Holley.com. Here, Holley's Sr. Product Manager Jay McFarland (far left) discusses some preliminary details with the two teams: Adam Leigh and Pete Eskew, and Keilum Griffin and Michael Edwards (left to right). Adam and Pete are both technicians at GM dealerships, so they know their way around new engines. Keilum is actually an IT guy by day but is an avid car enthusiast away from his computer, and Michael has been a mechanic at an independent shop for 25 years.

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HorsePower, part of Spike TV's PowerBlock, was filming the competition to air later this year. Both teams were interviewed by veteran host Joe Elmore.

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Prior to the start of the competition, both teams were allowed to inspect the engines to be swapped so they could formulate a strategy. The engines would need to be partially disassembled to fit onto the engine hoists Holley provided.

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The two cars chosen by Holley were hidden under tarps; none of the competitors knew what he would be working with prior to the start of the competition. At exactly 10 a.m. on Saturday, Holley's Bill Tichenor
fired a blast from a rally horn signaling the beginning of the competition. Note the box resting on the car cover. Holley disguised both cars this way to prevent people from guessing the make and the model by the car's silhouette.

6/23

With the covers off, the teams wasted no time getting to work. As required by the rules, they had to start the cars to verify each Gen I Chevy ran properly. They cranked the engines, and then shut them off within seconds of the engines catching. No need getting the coolant or oil any hotter than necessary. Keilum must have drawn the short straw; he was dirty a few seconds later draining the coolant and loosening the bellhousing bolts.

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On the other side of the fence, Adam and Pete seemed to be pulling into a slight lead, bolting the provided Mac's Pivot Plate to the small-block and hooking up the hoist. Note Adam's crunched knuckles. These guys were hustling.

8/23

Adam and Pete indeed were the first to have the 350 out of their Camaro, just about 20 minutes into the competition.

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Several minutes behind the other team, Keilum and Michael had difficulties removing the engine from the car because various parts kept snagging. Here, Keilum is removing the radiator and electric fan.

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Meanwhile, Adam and Pete were quickly removing the intake manifold from the waiting 6.0L engine. This was a necessary step because the rules require the teams to use the Pivot Plate to install the new engine. It bolts to the exhaust manifold flange and doesn't clear Holley's tall intake manifold.

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For the competition, Holley provided each team with an engine hoist, Mac's Pivot Plate engine lift plate, a floor jack, and Race Ramps wheel blocks. The teams were required to bring their own tools, and no power tools were allowed to be used during the competition at any time.

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A large crowd had gathered inside and around the tent housing the Engine Swap Challenge, and it only got bigger as time went on.

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As Keilum and Michael were removing their small-block, Pete and Adam had their 6.0L on the engine hoist and were moving into position to drop it in the car.

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Adam and Pete struggled somewhat with the bellhousing fasteners. "We had problems with the trans bolts," Adam said, adding that there wasn't much room to get a wrench on all of them.

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This allowed Keilum and Michael to catch up abit, as they had quickly disassembled the top end, attached the Pivot Plate, and were lowering the new engine into place within a few minutes of the old one being removed.

16/23

With the engine in place, the intake back on, and the wiring plugged in, Adam twisted the key and was greeted with the deafening sound of silence, no cranking, no fuel pump noises. Pete grabbed his trusty test light and had the problem figured out in less than a minute. They had plugged the system into the distributor wire rather than a constant 12V source.

17/23

With the system wired correctly, the engine fired and ran normally. Their timer stopped to give the judges from Holley time to check the car over to make sure all the fasteners were tight and everything was in place as required by the rules. Their work was up to snuff, so the next step was for Adam and Pete to drive the car around Beech Bend Raceway behind a Holley chase car.

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19/23

The most dramatic moment of the competition happened when the guys put the car into Reverse and nothing happened. Had the torque converter slipped off the input shaft? Would they have to remove the engine again? Adam quickly checked the dipstick and found it to be bone dry. "I knew we didn't spill any trans fluid," he said later, "it had to be low, there was no other explanation." Holley's Bill Tichenor started checking to see if they could locate some ATF. No time was added to Pete and Adam's overall time because this incident wasn't their fault.

20/23

Undaunted, Keilum and Michael kept plugging away (pun intended), bolting in the intake and making the necessary wiring connections.

21/23

Upon the successful completion of their test drive, Adam and Pete were officially declared the winners. It took them just 1 hour and 40 minutes to swap an 6.0L in place of a running 350, and as such, they get to keep the engine they had just swapped into the Camaro—they just had to remove it first!

22/23

Though they didn't win, Keilum and Michael did the same job in just 2 hours and 11 minutes, and that is just as impressive to us as the winning time. These guys never quit, even when it seemed like they were hopelessly behind. Holley offered the second engine to these guys at a really good price, which they jumped on, so no one went home empty-handed.

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Think you can do better than these teams? Keep checking Holley.com/ LSfest for Holley's official announcement for next year's LS Fest. Grab a buddy and bring your A game. It's a lot tougher than you might think in front of the crowd and TV cameras.